The Thin Line Between Success and a Flop

Hello,

Marlon here.

I'm not sure most people realize the thin line between a success and a flop.

I'll give you an example.

I can remember more than once I launched a product and it just did NOT get sales.

That happened with Big Ticket Dashboard. It flopped out the gate. So I CHANGED it by ADDING and emphasizing an additional component to the product. BOOM! It started selling.

And with Promo Dashboard it wasn't selling as expected out the gate.

I had a lot of traffic to it so I just started changing the headline LIVE as traffic flowed in until it started selling. If you have a ton of traffic, you're fortunate. And it's then easy to just keep changing the headline LIVE as the traffic is coming in…until it starts selling.

What I'm saying is I didn't change the product nor the bulk of the sales page. I just changed the headline. But sometimes when you change the headline, the opening doesn't make sense. So THEN you have to also change the opening of the sales page or letter.

The opening is called “the lead” as it leads off the letter.

So in jargon, you're changing the headline and the lead.

That's all I usually have to do in order to get a product to sell that isn't doing well. You try to find a stronger HOOK for the headline. Or a more immediate promise of gratification. That is, give 'em an instant benefit.

Sometimes your headline is just a little too BORING. And you have to add some jazz or sex appeal to it in order to make it more interesting.

If you want to be scientific, you can test different headlines using what's called as split testing. But I'm usually in a hurry. So what I do is just change the headline and mail my list again later that day or the next day until something gets traction.

Here's the Real Point

There's a thin line between selling and not selling.

And it's harder than nails when you're not selling and don't know why.

You feel like it'll never work. Emotions get in the way of reality. Reality is these things aren't so cut and dried. You're often just one little tweak or headline away from selling.

Don't give up so easily.

And don't blame yourself for something not selling. It's NOT about you. It's simply about hitting the right combination for that audience at a point in time. You don't always know for sure. You keep putting things out there.

I know this.

The first day you launch a product shouldn't be your measure.

If you have a really big list, yeah, you'll probably rain down sales the moment you hit send. But with smaller lists, you need to mail a few times before you get traction.

So stick with it.

Keep promoting.

You might write a new headline and lead. Send that out.

Keep emailing and see if you can get some traction.

You're quite possibly closer than you think. Sometimes it's just the difference of one headline.

I've head headlines I felt were big winners that got a luke warm response. It can be puzzling. But you just move on.

You have to hang tough.

You put your emotion and energy into a sales page or product. And then it doesn't sell well. That can be tough.

On the other hand, if you change your headline a few times and sales start flowing in, life is good again.

What I consistently see is that beginners don't really do their homework.

They don't study other similar offers that have worked. Their sales page looks NOTHING LIKE pages that are proven sellers.

I mean, you've got to be smart and observe what others are doing that works.

They haven't worked much to gain the skills of the craft.

I see beginners write extremely short sales pages with few benefits. And they expect to sell the product for $97 when everyone else is launching at $10.

The thin red line can simply be looking at what IS working for others marketing similar things. And doing thou likewise.

Don't reinvent the wheel.

People underestimate the amount of benefits it takes to get someone to order. You have to work hard to build up the value for them. Because they don't “get it” to begin with.

Beginners think no one will read that long copy.

Yeah, no one except the people WHO BUY.

They read it 2 or 3 times or more.

I see people get upset about their “lack of response” to their social media posts.

And you LITERALLY can't freaking FIND their posts when you look on Facebook or Instagram.

And when you find them, it's like 3 posts.

The thin red line there is DO MORE. Don't expect a big response from 3 freaking posts.

Or they put out posts where it's OBVIOUS they've never listened to even basic trainings on how to create posts THAT WORK.

Or they put out posts with NO PURPOSE.

Your post needs to arouse curiosity, have a call to action. And be compelling. You can't put out NOTHING and then be puzzled why you get no response.

STUDY WHAT'S WORKING.

You're probably not that far away.

But good gosh.

If you make hardly any social media posts. And the ones you have show you've never taken even the most basic of trainings on how to create posts that get response, YOU GET WHAT YOU DESERVE.

Nothing.

You deserved nothing because you didn't put in the work to learn the craft.

Business does not favor lazy people nor people who don't learn.

The GOOD NEWS is that you may be closer than you think with a modicum of effort.

It's really not that hard. But a lot of people do underestimate the effort or skill required. Yeah, you need to put in some effort and have some skill in what you do.

But if you LOVE IT it doesn't seem like work.

It's FUN and EXHILERATING when you start getting sales.

The effort is worth it.

Best wishes,

Marlon

PS: If you're ready to step up and really learn the game, here's a great place to start.